Reuben wiggles his phone in front of me. “He texted that he’ll be here in a few.”
Braeden hasn’t said a word since saying hi when he walked in. God, I wish he’d open up more. In fact, he’s still gripping my arm.
“Can I get you a drink?” Paul asks.
“Yeah, I’ll take a beer, thanks.”
Once I have a bottle in hand, someone knocks on the door. Reuben goes to answer it, and soon another man walks in with hair color similar to mine, but he has blue eyes and his body is covered in tattoos. Beside him is a blonde girl with a splash of freckles over her creamy skin. She looks to be in her mid to late teens.
“Hey, you must be Calvin. I’m Slade,” he says, reaching out to me. I shake his hand as he introduces his daughter. “This is Fern. I thought I’d bring her along tonight to hang out with Braeden.”
“You can call me Cal. And I appreciate it, man.”
Fern steps up to Braeden. “Can I call you Brae?”
The boy nods.
“Cool! Let’s go to the back of the house. There’s a room with a TV and video games. Do you like to play?”
Braeden shrugs before looking back at me for permission. “Go on. Have fun.”
When the kids leave, Edmundo says, “Slade here is our resident tattoo artist. He’s got a shop in the French Quarter.”
“Nice. Do you do tigers?” I ask. Hey, no one has to know why I’m suddenly into tigers.
“For sure. Easy.”
“I’ll set up an appointment then.”
“That must be Seth,” Reuben says when someone knocks on the door again.
When Seth steps into the kitchen, I have to admit that my heart does a little happy dance. He’s dressed differently, having ditched the preppy look. He’s wearing a fitted, dark blue casual button-up with the sleevesrolled over his forearms. It’s tucked into dark-wash jeans and paired with white trainers.
His pretty blue eyes land right on me, and his smile takes my breath away. Even his hair looks impeccable. He has some waves he tries to tame. Now, he’s embraced them. God, and that fucking little dimple that loves to hang out on the corner of his mouth, begging for attention.
“New haircut? Hot date tonight?” I ask him to hide my growing attraction, which increases exponentially the moment he walks closer to me.
His face pinks, and he rubs his neck. “Oh, uhm, nah. I just… styled it differently.”
I glance around at the silence. All the men’s eyes are pinging back and forth from Seth to me. Interesting. What does that mean? Could he be attracted to me? I took his clinging while we danced as a need to be comforted, but perhaps it was more.
The one-sided tension burst when Edmundo gathered Seth in his arms. “I’m so sorry, my friend. Are you okay?”
I’m silently begging him to let go of Seth. It’s irrational, but I don’t care. I feel like I’m the only one who should be holding him.
My breath let out when they finally let go.
“I’m fine. Seriously. It was pretty bad for a few days, but Calvin was there when I needed him.”
He looks at me again, and my heart races, filled with a weird sense of pride. “Well, you were there for me when I needed it,” I say.
Travis unexpectedly claps, startling me. Wild how I was able to tune out everyone but Seth. “Well, shall we begin playing, gentlemen?”
I sit down at the dining table, where there are snacks and a deck of cards with some poker chips. Seth sits next to me, and I’m immediately encapsulated by a new scent. It’s something spicy, yet light… peppery. It smells fucking divine.
I lean close to him and grin. “New cologne?”
His face blooms again, straight to his ears. “Uh, yep. It’s new. I was at the store, and a lady spritzed it on me.” He shrugs nonchalantly, or he tries to. His blushing is a dead giveaway. “I just liked it.”
